Paula Llewellyn last night described as mischievous allegations that her office was soft on corruption, and called on the individuals making the claims to “cease and desist from pursuing this disingenuous practice”.

Llewellyn, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), was responding to recent criticisms that the Office of the DPP (ODPP) had failed to prosecute at least 40 corruption cases referred to it by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG).“These referrals were forwarded to the ODPP during the tenure of the former contractor general, Mr Greg Christie, who submitted official reports to Parliament and issued public statements mischaracterising the nature of these referrals and criticising the posture of the ODPP in its decision not to prosecute these matters,” Llewellyn stated in a detailed news release, a lightly edited version of which is published on pages 7 and 8 of today’s

Jamaica Observer.“I have, in the past, sought to explain in the public domain and the [to] relevant authorities the true nature and character of these matters, and in fact, on request, forwarded a full report to Parliament on May 6, 2015 seeking to correct the misperception and explain the true position,” she added.Llewellyn said it was unfortunate that this allegation has resurfaced in some sections of the media reflecting utterances from Professor Trevor Munroe of National Integrity Action and Desiree Phillips of think tank Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI).“Again, I wish to emphasise that these 40-odd referrals from the OCG are not corruption cases. They are administrative breaches which do not disclose any allegations of any ingredient of any corruption offence,” Llewellyn emphasised.“For certain entities, as reflected in the news media, to continue to mischaracterise these referrals as corruption cases reflects an intention by them to mislead the public — both local and foreign — and I would call on these persons to cease and desist from pursuing this disingenuous practice,” she said.Llewellyn said the report her office issued to Parliament also details several other matters referred by the OCG and gives adequate explanation of her discretion.“These matters are classified as administrative breaches to an experienced prosecutor. From our experience with these matters, once the offending entity provides a reasonable excuse and is not a repeat offender, the court usually admonishes and discharges the entity or fines them up to $5,000,” she explained.She listed a number of the cases prosecuted by her office and those still being researched, and stated that her office no longer receives these referrals because the present contractor general, Dirk Harrison, deals with these matters himself, as a matter of course, as administrative breaches and not corruption matters.“The ODPP considers itself open to the public and accountable and strives to pursue a path of transparency. We are not above criticism and embrace it in our effort to enhance and improve our services to the public and our professionalism,” Llewellyn said.“However, for this mischaracterisation and perhaps alternative facts to be constantly elevated by certain parties as truth, I consider to be mischievous and unbecoming. We at the ODPP at all times seek to provide clarity in the discourse. I am at a loss, and find it passing strange that CaPRI — a well-respected research think tank — would have neglected in their due diligence to ascertain the facts from the ODPP,” Llewellyn added.“Going forward, as often as these mischaracterisations appear in the media, I consider it my duty as DPP to seek to disabuse the public of this unfortunate perception which seems to insinuate that the DPP and its officers have some sort of entrenched inertia in the prosecution of corruption cases,” she said.